Robert McKinley, Senior Analyst/Editor
Robert McKinley is an analyst of the payments industry on a daily basis for 32 years covering payment cards and payment systems from both the business side and the consumer side. McKinley is the retired founder and chief executive of RAM Research, CardWeb and CardTrak. In his prior position, McKinley has participated in more than 10,000 documented news media interviews, testified as an expert witness in two separate $billion+ U.S. anti-trust trials, testified before the U.S. Congress, assisted the GAO with paymentsIMG_2006 (1).jpeg reports, chaired numerous business conferences and provided C-Suite opinion to a multitude of Fortune 500 companies. In retirement, he has continued developing and funding digital media assets as well as contributing payments related analysis/content to a broad list of online publishers, including CardFlash, CardTrak and CardData. McKinley is also a national certified mentor with the non-profit SCORE organization with a focus on assisting Fintech startups. www.robert-mckinley.com

Alliance Data Systems completed the acquisition Conversant.
Conversant, which will operate under Epsilon, establishes a unique end-to-end marketing services company that will empower clients to more effectively market to their customers across all channels.

Nets announced its latest partnership with Skandia Bank to oversee its issuing services for its payment cards. For Skandia’s bank this means becoming part of a larger IT infrastructure and therefore avoiding having to develop and maintain complicated IT systems themselves. For Nets, this contract is another important step into the Swedish banking market. All services provided are core Card services which Nets already supplies to a large number of banks in Norway, Finland, Denmark and the Baltic countries.

BlueSnap is now offering new Coupon and Bank Transfer APIs that will help merchants increase sales and convert shoppers this holiday season. The Coupon API allows merchants to manage their own coupon library while the Bank Transfer API will allow shoppers to pay for online goods by transferring funds directly from their bank accounts

American Express is going toe-to-toe with Visa after announcing the opening of a new technology hub in Palo Alto, expanding its presence in Silicon Valley. The new team being assembled will focus on innovations in big data, cloud computing and mobile infrastructure.

Men’s fashion brand 2(X)IST via “Virtual Stores” has partnered with innovative mobile platform PowaTag to transform the way people shop.
Millions of passersby in December will be able to browse and purchase the latest 2(X)IST underwear ranges by using their phone to scan tags on virtual storefronts across key locations in the heart of the city making ordinary street corners a virtual marketplace for 2(X)IST.

San Diego-based PayLease has unveiled several mobile solutions that will enable residents to pay rent or HOA dues using a smartphone.
Residents of communities who use PayLease can now download a free iPhone or Android app to pay their rent with a mobile device.

NY-based PayItSimple in collaboration with Spreedly have completed integration with an additional 30 payment gateways to provide PayItSimple service to US-based merchants. With the addition of these gateways, PayItSimple is now integrated with approximately 70% of all payment gateways in the U.S.

Move over Xapo here comes Blade Financial, headed by the former GM of American Express’s prepaid card business. Blade Financial is the the first company to bring debit card programs directly to bitcoin businesses.

Lebanese payments cards are growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.41% since 2009 and now total more than 1.8 million. In terms of transaction value, payment cards valued LBP15.5 trillion (US$10.3 billion) in 2013, running at a CAGR of 12.07%.

Charge-offs among the nation’s top six credit card issuers will likely drop to 2.33% in the fourth quarter, but will likely inch up in the first quarter as delinquency ramps up. The fourth and first quarter are somewhat skewed due to the seasonality denominator.